Right at this moment we have so many mediums at our fingertips to use to express our needs, our desires, and, most of all, little or large figments of ourselves. A written work, no matter the medium, acts like little reflections of the world and people around. Each work contains little truths that yearn to be cracked open. Especially as time moves further ahead many put their hands out, hoping that someone, anyone, would take their hand, join their journey, and try to understand them better than before. The hope for understanding or even the hope to escape the little windowless rooms, some live in, is what drives some to write and share themselves with thousands upon thousands of people. At times some writers put out their hands, knowing fully well that the journey someone will read about is hard, because the journey depicted is one that focuses on difficult questions and new perspectives. The new concepts mentioned, at times, are sometimes difficult for some to wrap their heads around and sometimes the concept just becomes a new revelation of something that has always been there.  The most important thing though, is that we do take their hands and try to understand all different walks of life even if it is difficult- especially because it is difficult. 

        There are plenty of contemporary writers and poets who have long difficult talks in only the matter of minutes. Maybe it has been a bias of mine for a long time, but I always thought that the longer the book the more complicated it becomes. The concepts, in long books or media, sometimes feel as if they grow much larger than I can handle. At times I learn new things from a long novel years after I first read it. Every year I get older the more surprised I am by the things that have always been right in front of me. So that brings up the question of just what can shorter mediums do? What are they able to get across in just a minute or two? After finally reconnecting with poems and short stories I remember the joy of smaller things as well remembering how “complicated” comes in as sizes. 

        Many writers, who have a unique way of discussing many topics, are talking about relevant ideas and concepts. Sometimes the topics mentioned by contemporary writers are topics specific to them or to people dealing with particular things. Through their writing they express their own ideas and experiences- just like what the modern poets within Empty Bottles Full of Stories continually do. Robert M. Drake and R.H. Sine, look at their own personal experiences and emotions from relationships, toxic family family, obsessive love, and even societal problems. They offer a chance to look into their own personal lives and thoughts on today’s society.

        Their way of writing is harsh. Their realistic and unique views on life act like a random pinch that never really allows someone to grow content and comfortable. Their poetry forces people to think about both the good and the bad in detail. They never once say “Oh I’m sad because I am in a bad relationship.” Instead R.H. Sin writes “You could be asleep dreaming dreams that make you smile; instead you sit there all alone in a dark room gently lit by moonlight, feelings of being stuck in a nightmare that seems to be playing on loop.” The way this writer creates his poetry is by incorporating an unadulterated truth that may be hard to look at at times. It can be easy and enjoyable to read happier poems, but not everyone searches for an ignorantly happy fleeting feeling. Sometimes the truth is needed in order to learn and move forward from bad places that can be painted over to look good. “Your sadness is significant. Your sadness is important. This thing that you feel will strengthen your soul if you let it. So feel whatever it is that you need to feel.” 

        Then the other poet, Robert M. Drake, in Empty Bottles Full of Stories, takes perfectly common and happy moments and introduces the deep fears most likely circulating in the back of lots of parents’ heads. He writes about something that many may be afraid to think about out of fear of ruining the mood. Drake writes a poem about his daughter called “Letter to my Daughter.” He writes:

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So please,

 love her

And love her well.

 

She is not meant 

to live forever

    -Robert M. Drake 

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        Even though it is understood that everyone will turn to dust one day, these thoughts tend to be pushed down and suppressed. Why would someone want to think about the horrors their children would have to face one day? Or even the horrors they would have faced without them, completely on their own? The dark realities they continually bring up make it hard to be ignorantly happy. Instead these poems are capable of appreciating the little things while acknowledging important dangers that plague their lives. Through the recognition of pain and struggle it is possible to enjoy even the little things so much more than it would have been through complete bliss and ignorance.

        Even similar to these poets Naifissa Thompson-spires offers a look into a dark comical reality through her short story collection, The Heads of Colored People. Her stories are fiction but still deals with an important perspective the writer faces in some way or aspect. Maybe the multitude of perspectives is a way for the author to understand other people better and attempt to see why someone would act in a particular way. She focuses not only on some enjoyable and relatable characters, but she also focuses on characters who many have a bad opinion on. Her stories seem so realistic that I can very easily imagine coming across people like her characters in real life. 

        When I read one of her short stories it was for class and after reading it we had an in class discussion. Someone commented that “Sucide, Watch” was unrealistic because it did not meet her perception of what a suicidal person acted or thought like. As someone who personally has connections with the topic about depression and suicide for a very long time, I felt completely different on the topic. Naifissa Thompson-spires puts in a lot of effort to try and understand her characters and her characters lives as she details all the nitty gritty things within a short period of time. The short story “Sucide, Watch” is an example of how detailed some of her stories are. Within this story if you do not pay close attention to some details then an important action is going to be forgotten. If you were to just gloss over some of the personal details the character talks about then a huge possibility of why the character is the way she is is being completely ignored. For example she details how an image is important to everyone around her. She needs to give a certain perception to everyone around not only to satisfy the need for attention, but because it seems that that is what many people prioritize around her. There are so many different clues and thoughts, that if ignored or underestimated, a clear cry for help is not being acknowledged.  

        Reading her stories is a step towards understanding another person for both the good and the bad, but Thompson-spires takes it a step further than that as she uses her short story collection to demonstrate how there is no singlaner ‘black experience’ that many people seem to believe in. When I say ‘black experience’ I am more referring to the concept of the problematic ‘single story.’ The single story refers to the stereotypes about any particular group that is not true as it leaves out so many other details. The single story ends up subjugating a group of people to a certain stereotype that cuts down a person’s life and experience to something overly simplistic and a lot of times far from the truth. The Heads of Colored People is a short story collection used to demonstrate that there is no singular black experience and black people have many other troubles and characteristics as well. She demonstrates how stories about black people do not always have to talk about the fight against racism. Her short story collection acknowledges a person’s own unique life and perspective and the varying challenges they must face. By not acknowledging a person’s life at any given moment in time is not completely acknowledging them, that is why Thompson-Spires uses her short story collection to acknowledge all the other little and big things sometimes glossed over by stereotypes and media.

        It is clear that Naifissa Thompson-Spires puts in a lot of effort to understand her characters better as well as demonstrating to many people the false perceptions and microaggressions they may have through her short story collection, The Heads of Colored People. The perspectives she offers may not be completely her own or even stem from her own life in some way, but it still offers an important conversation and ideas that many people need to start talking about and learning from. Naifissa Thompson-spires reminded me how enjoyable it is to read short stories again. Her humorous yet realistic perspectives allowed me to learn more about other people. She makes it clear why it is important to understand other people and how each person lives a very unique life from the next person. Her stories are so honest about her characters and their flaws. In this sense there is little that I personally find problematic with. She does not glorify problems as if they are something to gain like trophies or something to brag about, almost similar to the other two poets within Empty Bottles Full of Stories as already mentioned. Well almost...

        Though Robert M. Drake and R.H. Sine do write as if they are capable of pricking people with the sight of their words, there are moments where they demonstrate how naive they can be. Sometimes their naivety is similar to a young child’s. Their naivety demonstrates that no matter how grown someone is they are still learning, wondering, and sometimes ignorant to the world they live in. The two poets are men who live in and participate in our problematic society so their perspectives can capture glimpses of toxic masculinity at times. In fact R.H. Sin writes a poem called “The First Shot” that features an idea of toxic masculinity. In this poem it depicts an obvious relationship between a man and a woman, but in this relationship the woman is being treated poorly by the man. He writes “Some men are not really men or, simply, they’re not man enough to treat a woman the way she deserves.” His intention is not problematic, but the system that we grew up in is. Sine may mean that men should never mistreat women, but the “male’s code of conduct” has allowed time and time again for women to be abused mentally and, at times, physically. 

        With how both of these poets write so honestly sometimes coming across clear toxic ideas that are not necessarily looked deeply into are confusing and a little troubling. I may be biased, but as a woman I have dealt with many men who lived by the code of conduct men should or should not act by. In truth it was exhausting. The rules some men live by pushed others around into roles they never asked for. Growing up I was always told by everyone in different ways how men did the hard labour while women cooked, cleaned, and cared for the children. Too many times I have heard misogynistic comments from so many who time and time again would try to push me into relationships I did not want, motherly roles I never asked for, and be reminded how I could never compare to a man in almost anything. In Highschool no matter if I aced tests and proved that I was smart for a child I was treated like a five year old who was incapable of reading a tape measurer. 

        The same idea applies to boys as well. Growing up I watched my brothers forced to join sports they hated and were reminded time after time how ‘men don’t cry.’ They had to “man up” is what I heard and saw over the years. There are constantly so many people harmed physically and mentally through many who wholeheartedly believe they need to act in ‘manly’ ways and feel the need to make everyone follow outdated gender roles. It is possible to like what you like whether or not it is masculine, but it irks me when I hear someone preach about how men should act. So many people are negatively affected and the chain seems to never end. When the poet talks about a toxic relationship by condemning the man for not being a ‘real man’ he is still implementing toxic ideas whether or not he realizes it. 

        At the end of the day the two poets in Empty Bottles Full of Stories are men. They are only capable of writing well about their own experiences and perspectives. It is not easy trying to capture another person’s personal life that coincides along their own. Even though there are many people around, no one is capable of transferring themselves into another person’s body, like a scifi movie, in order to get the full experience of someone else’s world. That is why these poets may at times make naive or somewhat problematic statements. No one makes a perfectly sound argument every time nor does everyone have the most perfect philosophy. That is why when reading or following anyone it is needed to be critical at the right time. Of course that does not mean their poetry means nothing over a naive statement made with the right intentions. Being critical at the right times just means that it is important to not glorify other people, but also not diminish their lives or experiences. A lot can be learned from understanding another person’s point of view and right now the world needs a better understanding of everyone in it better than ever.

        Sometimes the act of sharing, as corny as it sounds, is what helps reshape the world. The world needs more contemporary writers and artists to give their own truths to others around. Their poetry and stories could lead others to look at their own situations and reflect on their own lives. Their poetry could also open new doors for people still stuck in their locked rooms. Others may need these poets or artists or even writers to understand the people very unlike themselves. During lockdown and even during the possible stricter lockdown in the future, maybe taking the time to look at other people and trying to understand the same, but different world they live in could help develop our society more. Maybe if we tried we can comfortably name our problems and learn to do better for ourselves and the others close to us as well. But that requires us to read uncomfortable things and attempt to learn from what we read.